


Colour of a Bitter Tasting Fruit

by SerpentineFxrtune



Series: The Six [4]
Category: Bakugan Battle Brawlers
Genre: Ali has no idea that battles can be for fun, Alien Character(s), Alien Cultural Differences, Fabia Sheen is probably ooc, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/referenced Child Soldiers, Lumoth is a sweetheart, Major Original Character(s), Original Character(s), Other, The clones are ImportantTM, but I don't think they're ever treated as such in canon, getting out of abusive situations, implied/referenced unethical experiments, the best characterization I have is y/n, the guards are probably dead but they could also be unconscious, the portals make weird noises, then again I have no real grasp of her character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-28
Updated: 2020-10-28
Packaged: 2021-03-08 23:35:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,192
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27245098
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SerpentineFxrtune/pseuds/SerpentineFxrtune
Summary: Ali Nedjemm, sometimes called Lime (used to be called ALN, which was a code name, during his time in a rather dubiously motivated research project), has thoughts on the interspace when he gets there. But first, he has to be saved.
Series: The Six [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1986178
Comments: 1
Kudos: 2





	Colour of a Bitter Tasting Fruit

**Author's Note:**

> Ali rivals Aelia in terms of background tragedy, huh. Because I'm not creative about it, ALN is the initials for Ali Lime Nedjemm.

Neathians were curious, thinkers at heart. They tested their thoughts, and anything alien was tested. Unfortunately, this meant that alien practices that wouldn't work on neathians, for a variety of potential reasons, were tested, regardless of how that would backfire.

For the simple price of a child, aged 3, a few parents got money in return for their donation to the cause.

The cause was a replication of practices used with gundalian children. Unfortunately for the neathians, who ignored the context for these practices (constant war, for one. The fact that the caverns had rockfalls on occasion also did not help, and aided to the practices' necessary status), this had horrible side effects on the neathian children.

That was not helped at all by the fact that the children were treated more like lab rats, than actual neathians, and that the researchers who were doing the project weren't licensed. If anything, it was an experiment that hadn't been fully thought about before it was performed, even if it was fully guarded.

Fully guarded meant nothing to people who were trained to put holes in the security, though. By the time the screams of horrified guards reached another guard, the screamer was unconscious. A trait to ventus Castle Knights, on account of training, was their speed. A whole raiding brigade made up entirely of ventus knights made such quick work of the guards, that you'd wonder if there even were any guards.

The raiding brigade filtered into the building, hidden deep in the jungle, spreading themselves around the structure like the air from a vent would. It took them barely any time at all to locate the researchers. It took them even less time to apprehend the lot, bringing them outside to the waiting Longfly.

The rest of the brigade searched the facilities, eventually locating the children. The brigade captain held out her hand for one of the children.

“What’s your name?” she asked, turning on the lights.

“They c-call me... ALN…” The little boy sniffled, peering out from under a blanket.

“ALN? Ah… Do you know what your name was?”

“No…” he responded, creeping out from under the blanket.

“… A… L… N… I’ll grab a book of names for you to look through, and you can pick you name for yourself.”

“R-Really?!”

“Of course.” She smiled. The little neathian left his blanket, cautiously approaching the captain. He, fearful, grabbed one of her fingers with his small hand, gripping tightly enough so he couldn't be left behind.

"Come on; let's go. I'm Coali, and this," Coali gave it a moment, before a gentle neigh sounded from her shoulder, "is Olifus."

ALN looked at Olifus in mild fear, but seemed fairly calm, especially for a terrified 7 year old. How he wasn't freaking out more was beyond Coali, but she scarcely minded. As Coali neared the exit, ALN keeping his grip on her finger, she was approached by the brigade's medic; Io.

"Is this the last little one?" Io asked softly, to which Coali nodded. She led Coali and ALN towards a waiting Farakspin, who simply buzzed at them in acknowledgment. Io's partner bakugan rarely spoke, even if he could.

"So, there were about 5 that we could find. We don't know if this is the only place they're being held, but we'll only find out when the researchers get questioned. This was cruelty..."

"It was." Coali confirmed. After moving ALN to be clinging to her back, Coali climbed up onto Farakspin's head, joined by Io. "You mentioned something about bakugan earlier, Io?"

"Oh, right," Io began, shifting around so she was comfortably sat on Farakspin's head, "a lot of bakugan were gossiping about this place. Originally, they were talking about it like it was a weird training grounds thing, but then it became hushed, because they could hear crying from outside the building, and it creeped them out. I'm glad they were willing to show us where this place was..."

Coali blinked, before she had an idea, "Say, I know it's a bit out of left field, but do you think those bakugan would be ok with being friends with the little ones? They essentially started the process of getting them out of there."

Io's eyes glittered, "I'd think so! We figured that these lil’ ones had attributes matching their clothes; this one's wearing mint green, so he used ventus... At least, we guess so." she mentioned

"... Well, one of the bakugan that lead us here was ventus." Coali responded, ALN curled up in a ball, held against her chest so he could hear her heartbeat. One-two-three, pause... One-two-three, pause.

"Oh-- The Lumoth!" Io quietly exclaimed, remembering the fluffy maned bakugan, and her frankly massive purple eyes.

"Exactly," Coali grinned, "she wants to help, from what I heard from Nia. Getting these little ones readjusted is going to be a slow go, but I think letting them have guardian bakugan will help with the transition."

* * *

"Say, Lime, how would you feel about going to the interspace?"

Ali's ears pricked up, curious. He stopped what he was doing, and turned to his superior; Captain Coali. He'd joined the Castle Knights of his own volition, as to make it easier to train alongside Coali, something to occupy him. She'd acted as his parental figure for the last 8 years... So, he was 15! He did not feel 15, but he couldn't tell if he felt younger, or older, than he actually was.

"The Interspace..." Ali tested. It sounded foreign, and just fantastical in general, "What's that?"

"You remember the bakugan we cloned, in order to send out a help message, right?" Coali jogged his memory, a Hawktor on her shoulder. Oh, they cloned one of them, didn't they?

"Yeah, why?"

"That's where they went. The princess is going there herself to survey what's going on, and hopes that what she finds isn't dangerous. I doubt they'd be, given how open this Interspace appears. As it's public, I'd assume they're quite friendly."

Ali blinked, taking his common disguise, "So, I won't be there as I would be here? I'd be looking like this, right?"

"Right, right," Coali confirmed, before continuing, "since I'm a captain, I'm authorised to send whoever I deem to be a good candidate for the job, if and when I please..." Coali sighed affectionately, "but I wanted to let you know you could, if you wanted to."

Ali considered what was asked of him. The Interspace was apparently where the help message went- the message to call to aid Neathia... a planet that was a stranger to war but was now locked in one, against Gundalia. While Ali was cold, distant, and slightly fearful of anyone who wasn't Lumoth, Coali, or the Taura twins, _he was curious_ \- would it be a place of war? But if it was friendly, then it couldn't be, but then why would you send a help message to an external faction that had no training grounds?!

Was it even a training ground? The name made it sound more like a hub for various aliens to meet each other, but the fact that the help message went there, implied that it wasn't any simple hub... Ali's curiosity, and desire to actually get an answer, accepted Coali's invitation. He was going to the Interspace. _Anything_ to make sense of what it was.

Ali put his training weapon down. His aim had gotten to the point of bullseyes becoming common, so he was more than happy with himself for the day. Ali excused himself to his room, intending to change into something more casual. He didn’t want to appear like he’d arrived for the explicit purpose of keeping an eye on things! If he did, then people might alter their behaviour and—

He wondered if the Castle Knights were known about in the Interspace. Whatever, it didn’t matter now, as Ali stared in the mirror.

Yeah, the purple tank top was nice, but it seemed a little… bare bones wasn’t the descriptor he was after… Incomplete? Ali grimaced, and rifled through his clothes, pulling out another shirt. It was a crop top, and had a massive neck-hole... he could probably have one shoulder comfortably exposed as a result. Maybe it’d make him look less closed off! Yeah! That'd be perfect.

Ali shuffled the baggy green shirt on, shimmying to get it to lay just casually enough for it to not look forced. He turned to Lumoth on his desk, who simply buzzed in approval, fluttering over to nuzzle into Ali’s purple clad shoulder.

“I like it!”

“Thanks, Lulu…” Ali whispered softly, holding back the urge to cry. By Eve did validation really make him feel all mushy on the inside. Ali exited his room, running to meet Coali at the designated area, ready to get whatever he was going to get. He looked around. The scientists were bustling about, the only calm seemingly being Captain Coali, Captain Elright, and, Ali assumed, the princess, Fabia.

“Ah, Lime, there you are. Be careful, little one,” Coali gave Ali one last hug before he left, “Enjoy your time there, and be safe, the both of you.”

Fabia nodded, as did Ali.

“You’re both ready?” Elright asked smoothly.

“Yup!”

“Yessir.”

“Alright. Open the portal!” Elright commanded to the scientists, who suddenly got much busier.

“If we stick around each other, we might arouse suspicion if one of us is revealed as a neathian,” Fabia spoke, getting Ali's attention, “so feel free to run off when you want- if we come across gundalians, it’ll be safer if we’re apart.”

“Ok.” Ali curtly responded. He felt awkward already, but the princess, _bless her_ , didn’t mind.

The portal to the interspace opened in front of them, black and neon blue. Ali almost fell over, staring down its centre. There was a weird warbling sound, faint, on the other end.

“You can go through. Come back in one piece, ok?”

“Will do!”

“Yessir.”

Fabia went through first, leaping enthusiastically in. Ali padded up to the portal, and ran after her, not wanting to be in the portal for long. It was already unnerving, going somewhere he didn’t know, but the portal… The portal was making his stomach churn in fear.

The other side barrelled towards them (or did they barrel towards it?) Fabia landed just out of sight. As Ali landed mere seconds later, she was nowhere to be seen, gone, but that was fine with him.

What was not fine was Ali’s nerves. They were doing somersaults, even as he was just looking around.

“Hey! Let’s observe what other people do!” Lumoth chimed, calming Ali just barely, “If we observe, we can learn how to blend in, right?”

“Right. So, uh… Which direction do you want to go first?”

“Left.”

“Left it is.” Ali murmured, keeping his voice down, as he headed down a fairly well-lit alleyway. Outside the alleyway was, as it happened, the plaza, or at least the main bit.

Looking up, Ali could see hologram screens littering the virtual skies, displaying what he guessed was a ranking board. Next to that was a battle cam, he guessed, watching the screen. The whole battle was filled with determined smiles, and it seemed relatively tame, just high energy. It was weird, but Ali brushed off his confusion. Nothing here struck him as a training ground, so he supposed it wasn’t. There wasn't a uniform; everyone around him was dressed casually, looking like it was summer. Was the Interspace even on a planet? Did it belong to any alien race in particular?

“Hey, looking closely, isn’t that a Hawktor?” Lumoth mumbled, staring at something in the sky.

Ali reeled himself back to reality, vocalising his confusion to Lumoth, who hovered a few inches to his left.

“The ranking screen you were talking about-" Ali realised that he'd mentioned it, to his horror, given that he didn't think he was speaking, "The second person down from the top! I don’t know if they have Hawktor here too, but given that Gundalia doesn’t, I’m hoping they don’t.”

“What,” Ali laughed, “are the Hawktor back home annoying?”

“Nope! If Hawktor don’t exist here normally, then that means that that one _should_ be the cloned one we sent!” Lumoth concluded, wings fluttering.

Ali’s mind blanked, before it clicked. How, by Eve, did he forget about the clones?! They’re important, especially important given what they were for, and why Ali was even in the Interspace, and he’d gone and forgotten them. _Unbelievable._

“Oh! And the one underneath- that’s an Akwimos! I don’t recognise the top bakugan, but I do recognise the second and third!” Lumoth chittered, tail wagging up and down in joy, “Do you think the princess has figured out what that screen is for? If she has, is she going to be looking for the people on it? Since they have the clones?"

“Probably…” Ali guessed, “I have no idea what to do so far though, so… I guess we should lay low and relax?”

“Mhm! And we can learn as we do so!” Lumoth cheeped, sitting herself on Ali’s shoulder.

Now was the fun of actually finding somewhere to relax...

**Author's Note:**

> For the warbling sound, this is what I kind of had in mind? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9fN7udMAMog  
> I mean the first part, specifically, when it's only vocals.


End file.
